1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a driving apparatus for driving a driven member, and a lens barrel and a camera whose lens is driven by the driving apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the prior art, as a driving apparatus for driving a lens of a camera, there is an apparatus provided with a lead screw for rotational driving, and a lens holding section that holds a lens and is coupled with a nut member moving rectilinearly based on the rotation of the lead screw in meshing engagement with the lead screw (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-205556).
However, the structure using a nut member may cause the nut member and the lead screw to jam, for example if the rotation of the lead screw is not halted for some reason when the lens holding section reaches an end of the driving apparatus. To avoid this jamming together, there is a structure using a rack member whose engagement teeth are provided on only one face thereof instead of the nut member, but this structure leads to the problem that tooth skipping can be easily caused by shocks.